Winter Wonderland

A few days ago we awoke to a winter wonderland after an overnight snow put four or five inches of wet snow everywhere. Although it looked like the low gray clouds wouldn’t clear anytime soon, the snow-covered trees at the house gave me a good reason to head into the Big Woods.

It was a monochromatic world, seeming to be nothing but black and white –

 

The buckthorn was pretty with its blue-black fruits holding a clump of snow –

But there actually was some color to be seen as a small flock of over-wintering robins gleaned the red fruit from a wide-spreading multiflora rose –

As this is being written a snowstorm is moving up the east coast, but we’re only getting another four or five inches. It’s just about mid-winter now and there’s less snow on the ground than usual, some of us miss the deep snows of 40 years ago.

From The Camera Traps – December 2014

First some really good news -- the Pennsylvania Game Commission as announced that the Board of Game Commissioners has withdrawn from consideration a proposal to close its 1.4 million acres of State Game Lands to activities other than hunting or trapping during five months each year. Apparently the proposal was withdrawn due to the reaction it provoked. Unfortunately, the proposal or something like it may resurface at some point.

Now,  From The Camera Traps

After the hunting seasons for deer and bear ended and there were fewer people roaming about, I put several of my camera traps back out in the Big Woods. A month later it was time to check on the pictures the cameras had captured and replace the batteries.

The cameras hadn’t gotten many photos and, unfortunately, there were no pictures of bobcat, coyote or fisher. But some white-tailed deer and black bear had their pictures taken –

 

 

Checking camera traps is a bit like opening Christmas presents – sometimes the contents are a bit disappointing and sometimes they’re a real treat.